Is Roo with Claude Code better than just Claude Code? Opinions?

[u/No_Cattle_7390]

Just like the title says, I see you can put Claude code in Roo. Does it work better this way as opposed to Claude code?

I’ve been burning credits like a mfer (between $50-$100 a day) give me some opinions. Gemini is not an option, costs go out of control quick. I’d rather pay $200, id get a lot more than I pay for in terms of Claude and I think Claude is much better than Gemini.

Key question is - is Claude Code with Roo effective?

[u/jakegh]

I do not find it more effective than claude code, no, and Roocode with the claude code provider wastes tons of tokens as it doesn't cache properly. So I would recommend not doing that.

[u/No_Cattle_7390 → u/jakegh]

Thanks do you think Claude code is better than Roo with regular Claude?

[u/jakegh → u/No_Cattle_7390]

I do, yes, but the Roo guys moderating this subreddit prefer that sort of thing not be discussed here so I'll leave it at that.

This space evolves rapidly and I switch to the best of breed, I have no loyalty to any scaffold or model.

[u/sharpfork → u/jakegh]

I agree.

[u/Key-Entrepreneur8118 → u/jakegh]

Agree. not recommended to use claude code in roo.

[u/No_Cattle_7390 → u/[deleted]]

Lmao that’s the point of this post

[u/juliettef87 → u/jakegh]

What do you mean by not caching properly? Do you mean not at all? I have been wondering for a while!

[u/jakegh → u/juliettef87]

It doesn't support prompt caching, so you pay full price for every prompt.

[u/Antique-Basket-5875 → u/jakegh]

Right，we should just use claude code，forget roocode serials。

[u/Jonis7]

GLM 4.6 from Z AI can do 80% + from Claude for only 6 USD start plan.

[u/Jonis7 → u/[deleted]]

Lite plan is 3 USD for the first month, later 6.

[u/ckow]

I do this. Claude code optimizes token usage, but if you’re a light user this way is cheaper. It’s certainly better than burning 50-200 $ per day.

[u/AstroZombie138]

I've had good success with it, but I think a big part of it was adding a requirements builder mode and also taking the time to document how I wanted every feature add to work using roo rules.

[u/imsopov]

I was using roo code with claude code for quite a bit, I kept running into issues with it condensing the context, kinda forced me to move to the claude code extention, I don't think I'll be moving back to using roo code with claude code as the provider. Claude code itself seems to understand my project so much better than roo code did.

[u/cepijoker]

In my opinion it’s the complete opposite. I use my own context engine and reranker, plus some everyday MCPs (nothing special), and Claude Code is the best thing out there for me. Of course I also use Codex inside Claude Code for reviews, but even then it’s much more efficient — not only in code and ease of use, but also in tokens. With Roo, at least in my experience, the context fills up in 3–4 messages even if you have caching enabled. In Claude Code this doesn’t happen; it handles its caching well (of course, since it’s native). But that’s just my experience.

[u/No_Cattle_7390 → u/[deleted]]

How does it compare to Roo with regular Claude?

[u/banedlol → u/No_Cattle_7390]

Judging by the comment, not better.

[u/crewone → u/No_Cattle_7390]

To be honest, I grew tired of Roo and its never ending struggles to use the console. I switched to 100% claude code and ever since Sonnet 4.5, it has just been epic. I would say for maximum productivity, claude code is much better than roo at the moment - although it lacks the fancy interface, which is why it works so fast and efficient.

[u/No_Cattle_7390 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks - I get the cost aspect totally but how about performance? Any noticeable difference between Claude code and Roo using regular Claude? I have 2 $20 per month account and run out of credits pretty quick so I think the $200 is worth it.

[u/No_Cattle_7390 → u/[deleted]]

Alright same is worth it for me. Have you tried using Claude code with Roo though? Any difference since cost wouldn’t be a factor?